blackberry internet, blackberry outage december 22,ClairMail expands mobile banking to Android, BlackBerry

Connecting to the Wireless Network thru BLACKBERRY

Once you’ve inserted and charged the battery, you’re ready to connect to the wireless network:

• If the power is off on your smartphone, press the Power button
• On the Home screen or in the application list, click Manage Connections and select the check box beside Mobile Network

To connect to the wireless network, your wireless service must be active and you must be in a wireless network coverage area. If your device is not connected to the wireless network, you can still use features that do not require a connection to a wireless network (For example, you can type and save draft email messages, manage tasks or use the calculator when you are on an airplane).

As of 1623 CT/ 1723 ET, 3G Browsing may be unavailable for Blackberry users Nationwide. In addition Pin to Pin messaging may also be impaired. BlackBerry Internet Service subscribers may experience delays in using Internet Browsing. BlackBerry subscribers may experience delays in receiving PIN messages and may receive an “x” when sending PIN messages. BlackBerry subscribers may be unable to send or receive messages. Subscribers may also be unable to register their device, roam in another location, or use other services such as Internet browsing. BlackBerry Internet Service subscribers may be unable to use the BlackBerry Internet Service web site or perform activities such as creating new accounts, integrating third-party email accounts, or viewing email attachments. Devices may not receive new service books. BlackBerry Connect and BlackBerry-enabled devices that require a new PIN may be unable to receive the PIN. BlackBerry Enterprise Servers may be unable to connect to the BlackBerry Infrastructure. Wireless service providers and device resellers may be unable to use BlackBerry administration web sites or perform activities such as creating subscriber accounts or provisioning services for subscribers. This could affect 100% of subscribers. [Update: The Core Mail service for BlackBerry Infrastructure was unavailable as of 18:33 EST. As of 2020 CT / 2120 ET, all BIS and BES services are down.] 22:27 BB148297 BlackBerry Internet Service subscribers may be unable to send or receive messages, use the BlackBerry Internet Service web site, or perform activities such as creating new accounts, integrating third-party email accounts, or viewing email attachments. Mobile banking and payment service provider ClairMail Inc. has extended its clients’ mobile Web experience to Google’s Android and Research In Motion’s BlackBerry devices. Based on its SmartRendering technology, the ClairMail platform now supports a device-optimized version of the ClairMail mobile Web experience for BlackBerry and Android-based phones such as the Curve, Storm, Pearl, Motorola Droid and Google’s Nexus One, with plans to support other devices as they are introduced to market.

“For us, the smartphone is key because all surveys show that not only are smartphone owners more likely to use mobile banking, but mobile banking users are more likely to be smartphone owners,” said Donald MacCormick, vice president of products and engineering at ClairMail, Novato, CA. “For mobile banking, smartphones are the ultimate target. “We’ve always believed the key to mobile banking is the fact that you have your phone with you almost all the time,” he said. “As smartphones in general get more pervasive, it’s an area we’ll see more and more activity. “We can’t forget BlackBerry, which is still a very popular smartphone, and the whole Android movement is clearly going to be a big part of the market going forward, so we added our latest capability to support both of those phones.” ClairMail provides the mobile Web banking functionality on several hundred handsets, including Apple’s iPhone, with its proprietary device detection technology that delivers an optimized user experience based on each device’s specific capabilities. ClairMail clients include First National Bank of Scotia, Alerus Financial, Bank of Stockton, Bank of Trust, BB&T, Cascade Bank, City Bank of Texas, Intercredit Bank, PNC Bank, State Bank & Trust, Tri Counties Bank, USA Federal Credit Union and Veridian Credit Union.

Smart move to support smartphones
Javelin Strategy & Research forecasts that 52 percent of mobile-phone owners will tote a smartphone by 2014. To capitalize on smartphone owners and establish themselves as mobile-banking innovators, financial institutions must quickly develop ways to specifically serve the leading smartphones, starting with the iPhone, BlackBerry and Android-based phones. While Apple’s iPhone has garnered much attention since its introduction in June 2007, RIM’s BlackBerry devices remain the most widely adopted in the U.S., with approximately 15 million in use according to comScore. Google’s Android OS, a newer contender in the smartphone market, has seen adoption double over the past year, according to ClairMail. Taking advantage of the latest improvements in mobile browser technology, ClairMail claims that its mobile Web infrastructure lets smartphone devices provide a streamlined, quality user experience without having to download an application.

This optimized mobile Web capability is an integral part of ClairMail’s recently announced Smart Client technology, an approach to the delivery of mobile banking on smartphones first introduced for the iPhone in September. The Smart Client is a hybrid approach that fuses the centralized manageability of the optimized mobile Web experience with a small downloadable application that acts as a bridge to native capabilities of the device not otherwise available to the mobile browser such as push notification alerting, GPS access and NFC capabilities. Mobile banking end-users can also opt to receive alerts via SMS. In fact,ClairMail recommends that its clients adopt the mobile banking triple play—SMS, a mobile Web site and an application.

On the up and up
ClairMail believes that 2009 was a tipping point for mobile banking, and the company expects mobile banking to grow by leaps and bounds this year. “We’ll look back at 2009 as a pivotal year in mobile banking, coming through financial crisis, and towards end of year things were freeing up again,” Mr. MacCormick said. “The market really started to understand the need for mobile banking last year, and that will be executed in 2010. “It’s ready to take off—there’s a lot of talk about how it’s important, but still relatively few banks are actually doing this, but I believe that will change dramatically in 2010,” he said. “2010 will be a big year for mobile banking.”